The day book. (Chicago, Ill.) 1911-1917, December 19, 1916, LAST EDITION, Image 12

Image and text provided by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, Urbana, IL

COCHRAN'S COMMENTHEARST AND "PEACE. I wouldhave more faith in W. R. Hearst'sfrantic appeals "for peace if I werenot convinced that he is -playing thediplomatic game of Germany. Hearsthas been even more madly pro-Germanthan many of the Germannewspapers, and has vainly tried, forreasons best known to himself, toso, influence public sentiment as foput pro-German pressure on President Wilson. No matter how muchhe advertises himself by eloquentappeals for peace, what he says hasno wjeight at all with Wilson, whoknows Hearst and understandsHearstism. Sincere advocates ofpeace should not co"mmunicate withWashington through Hearst by signing petitions written by him and published in his papers. Anything withthe Hearst label is liable to go intothe White House waste basket.WOMEN LAWYERS. Replying toClarence Darrow's comment onwomen as lawyers, Lawyer-LeonoraZ. Meder said: "I have made threetimes as much money in law as Ihave in social work." Goodness gracious, is that a revelation? Do women go' in for social work for thedough there is in it? Is social service a profession, trade or business?I supposed, of course, that women, aswell as men, went into "social work"for the joy of service and becausethey love their fellow men or women,as the case or love may be. Butmebbe I don't know just what socialwork is.MERRIAM AND THOMPSON.Some good may come out of Aid.Merriam's visit to Mayor Thompsoji.They haven't been political pajs, andit's unusual for men in jublic officeto help political foes make good, butI'm not surprised at Merriam. He'snot a trimmer, and has progressiveideas' about public service. He may 1have sized up the situation wiselyand figured it outk that Thompsonhas reached the point where he isready to quit playing politics andrender public service. Thompson'spopularity thermometer started high,but is now below freezing and rapidly approaching zero. He lost public confidence while trying to pleasehis political pals. To regain publicconfidence he's got to quit playingpolitics andtry to be mayor of Chicago. If -that's what Big Bill is upto,Merriam"will help him. Merriamis listed as a Republican, but he's independent He showed that whenhe openly supported Hoyne .forstate's attorney. He placed serviceabove party politics. And if MayorThompson really wants to be a realmayor and serve Chicago, no mancan be more helpful than AldermanMerriam.FISHER AND THE ARMY. Inopposing universal military serviceand favoring a reorganization of theregular army and militiar WalterFisher may mean what he says, butdoesn't say all he means. What hemeans, very likely, is that he opposescompulsory service because he favors a big standing army of professional soldiers or hired mercenaries,men who can make murder a profession. Under that system the richman's son can keep out or go in asan officer as happened during thewar with Spain. Under a universalcompulsory system there w'ould beno ' special privilege and the . richman's son would do his drill stuntalong with the poor man's son andthey wouldn't abandon their regularjobs to becpme professional soldiers.The idea of a big standing army is tohave it handy to quell labor- disturbances in times of peace. And the militia reorganized would'have in mindthe same purpose. With a big enoughnavy we can worry along wjthbut abig regular army and not fear thesuccess of invasion by armiesshipped across the sea.